A new xeriscape garden near our condo complex in South Pasadena, California.
The drought in California has finally gotten people to reconsider lawns carpeted in green grass that require 40 gallons per square foot to maintain during any growing season. Some people have begun to replace their lawns with plastic turf grass that looks remarkably real, but that keeps any rain that does fall from penetrating the ground and probably sterilizes the soil from excessive heat when the sun shines and the temperatures rise in the summer. Others are looking to return to the desert plants that are natural to the true climatic conditions of Southern California and that don't require large amounts of water to grow or expensive gardening fees to maintain. The little garden above has been the project of one of the residents of a nearby condo complex. She has taken it on herself (with the OK of the complex, I'm sure) to start converting a patch of the condo grounds to native plants. This is the result of about a year of her part-time project. These plants will eventually grow to fill up the available space and create a beautiful garden of natural plants that actually complement the condo complex. The picture below is an example of a mature desert garden (15 plus years old with some older plants having matured before they were transplanted in the garden) that we discovered on a visit to an art sale in Montrose, California about a week ago. It is how this area of California probably looked before water began to be piped in from the Colorado River and the mountains of Northern California.
At a private home in Montrose, California.
We grew up thinking that water would always be available. We were wrong. There is nothing in nature that is not finite. We will not be able to exploit the environment forever without consequences and without thoughtful ways of preserving and conserving the resources we need (as opposed to the ones we only want). Yes, the world will eventually heal itself if we humans kill ourselves off, but why not try to live more harmoniously with the world we live in and try to make it a better place that can sustain life until we evolve into something that doesn't crap in its own nest?